Saturday, February 13, 2010

Percy's Poetry Book And A New Book On Ernie

Rick Spector runs a company called ""Stairway To The Stars" which specializes in costumes, props, awards and historical artifacts from the golden age of film and television. One of the ways Rick obtains these items is through auction. He recently acquired Percy Dovetonsils' book of poetry at an auction held by the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

Rick shared some pics with us. The color photo doesn't have to do with Percy or the auction item; Rick discovered some interesting color photos for auction on eBay and since you don't see a lot of these I thought I'd show it. The color pic dates from 1960. Thanks Rick:

I wrote this book because Ernie has always been a part of me since I was a child and I finally said, "It's time to take a closer look at what has kept me laughing so much all these years.

As I say in my intro: Kovacs was an indelible part of my own childhood. When I was growing up in the l950’s, no one made me laugh louder and more frequently than Ernie Kovacs. The sheer nutty brilliance of the man, his wife Edie Adams, and his comic co-conspirators such as writers including Rex Lardner, Deke Heyward, and Mike Marmer and actors such as Barbara Loden, Peter Hanley and Trigger Lund has come back to make me laugh again and again through the years, often at unexpected moments.

Let’s be more specific. As a child allowed to watch several hours of television a day, I became hooked not so much on "I Love Lucy" or even Disney’s "Mickey Mouse Club" shows, but on the various Ernie Kovacs shows that existed throughout this period.

I was too young to "analyze" what it was that I enjoyed so much about his humor, but in retrospect I was fully aware that Kovacs was much further "out there" as a comedian than anyone else in the biz including my other favorites, Sid Caesar and Steve Allen. In particular, I constantly entertained family and friends acting out The Nairobi Trio, those three apes who always mischievously acted out stunts on each other, particularly angering the middle ape, as the same tune, "Solfeggio" played every time they appeared. I too would hum the song and pretend to play the xylophone with my two little xylophone hammers while then turning like some kind of a robot and zapping the "ape" (be "she" my sister, mother, grandmother, or "he" my father, grandfather or a friend) over the head with my imaginary hammers (often substituting other objects).

These books are very good and useful and bring in a lot, especially Rico's, of his life/bio. Where I come in is taking first of all a wider look at COMEDY itself thus placing Kovacs, yes, with not necessarily INFLUENCES but SIMILARITIES to everyone from ARISTOPHANES in Ancient Greece to the MARX BROTHERS , CHAPLIN, KEATON and to suggest how he exemplifies elements of, for instance, COMMEDIA DELL' ARTE in Italy (the mixture of improv with set pieces, etc.) and SURREALISM as well.

As I say early in the book, Question: what do Monty Python, David Letterman, much of Saturday Night Live especially in its early years, Larry David, especially in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on which he works without a script, "Flight of the Conchords", "Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In", "The Uncle Floyd Show", "Captain Kangaroo" and even "Sesame Street", to offer but a short list, have in common? One answer is quite simple: they all reflect--whether knowingly or not--the imaginative and wildly creative comic jokes, ludic characterizations, hilarious insights and zany experiments that Ernie Kovacs handed down in his years with early American television and late 1950’s Hollywood cinema. “Nothing in Moderation” was not only Kovacs’ wholehearted approach to comedy and life but is also the line on his tombstone in Los Angeles’ Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Long story short, as you see from the list of chapters, I go into close detail examining the types of comedy he developed and the influences this has had:

Chapter 1: An Overview of the Post-War Era & The Ernie Kovacs Shows in the Context of American Television Comedy

Chapter 2: The Flow of the Philadelphia & New York Kovacs Shows: Comic Surrealism Verbal and Visual

Chapter 4: Ernie in the Movies: From Comic Director to Supporting Character Actor

Chapter 5: The Kovacs Legacy: “I Don’t Know: I Just Do It!”

3. I read the following comment on the University of Texas web site "In this book, Andrew Horton offers the first sustained look at Ernie Kovacs's wide-ranging and lasting contributions to the development of TV comedy". In what ways?

Again, I take a close look at shows and specific scenes/moments to "open up" Kovacs' comic genius of VERBAL AND VISUAL, individual and ensemble and suggest influences this has had long since his day. I watch and write not just as a FAN or as a MEDIA SCHOLAR but as a comic screenwriter myself having, for instance, published one book "LAUGHING OUT LOUD: WRITING THE COMEDY CENTERED SCREENPLAY" (U of California Press) which has been used effectively around the world, I'm happy to say! I would add one more perspective I bring which is I fully appreciate his "Hungarian Viewpoint" for I have worked in Europe including Hungary, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia and Greece and appreciate THEIR HUMOR AND CAN SEE HOW PARTIALLY ERNIE WAS PULLING FROM SOME OF THESE ROOTS TOO!

Finally, let me add this since I am writing this a few days before Mardi Gras and in the book I do look closely at the SPIRIT OF CARNIVAL THAT ERNIE REPRESENTS! LONG LIVE ERNIE AND CARNIVAL IN OUR HEARTS AND SOULS AND LAUGHTER:

Can we think of any more appropriate carnival!

Mikhail Bakhtin in writing about the nature of carnival in Europe but projecting to the spirit of the carnivalesque in any culture, commented that:

“Carnival is not a spectacle seen by the people; they live in it, and everyone participates because its very idea embraces all the people. While carnival last, there is no other life outside it (7).”

Looking back on the nature of Ernie Kovacs’ original forms of comedy on early American television in the 1950’s up through into the 1960’s, it is certainly fair to say whenever and wherever Ernie was “working”, a carnival was in session and all of those around him had to understand that. Thus it seems accurate to say that Ernie Kovacs brought a spirit of carnival into the new medium of television, a spirit that has had lasting influences. Ernie’s comment that, “I don’t know. I just do it!” is absolutely “carnivalesque” in the sense we have been discussing.

Let’s be more specific. The carnival spirit can be seen as celebrating the three “F’s”: freedom, fantasy, and festivity (Horton. Laughing Out Loud: Writing the Comedy Centered Screenplay p4). Certainly Ernie felt the “freedom” to do just about anything he wanted to do (as long as no one was being hurt!), and he had endless amounts of “fantasy” that allowed him to dream up what to do. Finally the “festivity” was the SHARING of his comedy with others. If you do all of this by yourself for yourself, that is not the carnival spirit. Carnival is to be shared “in the streets” and, in this case, in the living rooms of America. And in my personal interviews with Edie Adams, she explained she enjoyed helping to edit at times because, as she put it,“ Ernie really needed someone to help edit because he was so into whatever he was doing that often he didn’t know if it was funny or not (personal interview).”

4. You're a screenwriter and have written books on the subject. Do you offer a critical analysis of Ernie's films in the book?

Yes! I have a whole chapter on his films. I NOTE, FOR INSTANCE, (SEE BELOW) HOW VERY FEW ACTORS EVER MAKE IT IN BOTH TV AND FILM, AND ERNIE WASN'T A BIG STAR YET, BUT HE WAS CLEARLY DEVELOPING IN THIS "OTHER MEDIUM" AS I NOTE BELOW IN THE CHAPTER:

In his five brief “cinematic years”, Ernie never became a famous lead actor. But he came through often as an impressive supporting character in both comedies and dramas and thus proved to be one of those rare actors who could move from television to film and back again successfully. To put this in a clearer context, it’s important to realize how small a group such actors are or have been. Jerry Seinfeld, for instance, is still funny in reruns of Seinfeld (1990-98), but he has not yet become a movie star and has actually not really tried to cross the bridge, since he has often commented how difficult such medium crossing can be. Similarly, while a few actors have been able to move between the two mediums such as James Garner, Bill Cosby and Lucille Ball, we cannot speak of distinguished feature film careers of most television comics such as Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore.

5. Who did you interview who worked with Ernie in those early days?

I was so lucky to be able to interview Edie Adams several times in her home and in Kansas when we were both invited to the Annual Buster Keaton Fesitval in Iola to celebrate Buster and Ernie given that even on the day Ernie died he had been working with Buster on a TV Pilot Show.

A number of my friends worked in TV in the early days and they were helpful and of Ernie's staff workers I was able to interview Robert Key.

(ED. NOTE: For a thorough discussion of the pilot Ernie and Buster worked on see this article by our friend Rob Foster.)

I assume so but U Texas will have to tell you this. Alas, the paperback version will not be out the first year.

Our thanks go out to Andy Horton for a very informative interview. It's going to be a great new angle on Ernie's work and something I'm sure all EK fans will enjoy reading.

My Dad first exposed me to EK by making me watch "The Best Of Ernie Kovacs" on PBS in 1978 and then a couple of years later my friends and I discovered "The Uncle Floyd Show" on cable TV. That's one connection I truly look forward to reading about! Both are from New Jersey and I've always considered the similarities.

3 comments:

Thanks so much for this excellent interview. I love what Andrew says about the "carnival aspects" of Ernie's work/life -- yes yes yes. Very much looking forward to reading this addition to our understanding of Ernie's brilliance!

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On this blog and its parent site Ernie Kovacs Dot Net A Tribute To Television's Original Genius you will see links to the majority of Ernie's material which is available for purchase. This includes (but is not necessarily limited to): Books, DVDs, tapes, CDs and memorabilia on various auction sites. A great deal of time and effort has gone into searching for and compiling lists of all that is available from sites that are reputable. We don't, however, assume any responsibility if you are unhappy with a purchase you make from one of these sites.

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About This Blog

This blog is written by Kovacs fans Al Quagliata and Ben Model. Al started writing for Ben's EK website in the mid 90s and then started his own. This is the middle ground where these two Kovacsians meet to bring you all the latest goodies from Kovacsland!

Video And Audio Clips On This Site

My name is Al Quagliata; I’m the editor of this blog and run the website Ernie Kovacs Dot Net A Tribute To Televsion's Original Genius. Even though Ernie Kovacs was the original video comedian and was so visual, there are very few clips on this blog and on my website. In most cases I can’t verify that the parties who post these clips (e.g. on sites such as YouTube and Facebook) have the right to do so and it’s not up to me to decide if they do, so as a general rule I don’t post clips. My feeling is that this material should be legally purchased so that the royalties go to the parties who own the rights. And, just because you purchase something, that doesn’t give you the right to post it online. In some cases the rights holders allow this streaming content on sites they run; that’s their call and has nothing to do with me, nor am I going to presume that I can do it without permission.

This goes for audio too: recordings of novelty songs, music from the Kovacs shows and various EK sketches, some of which are available on CD or LP. I understand that sometimes these items are hard to find but I am not going to provide links to free downloads.

With all this in mind please do not contact me asking for copies of videos, DVDs, CDs, LPs, or to ask me to stream video. I will not post ANY links to file sharing sites which are sent to me nor will I respond to any emails regarding same.

I can offer the following: The Museum Of Broadcast Communications in Chicago has their archives listed online so you can view the list. Some of these listings have a digital file accompanying them for viewing and ⁄ or listening. Sign up is free and there are some very interesting EK files available to watch and listen to online. My assumption is that a broadcast museum is not just putting up clips without permission which is why I’m willing to list the link.

While they don't have online viewing, you can visit the Paley Center For Media in New York or Los Angeles to view shows in their massive collection. The link will take you to a listing of everything they have regarding Ernie Kovacs so that you can plan your visit; you're limited as to how much time you can spend in the museum library and how many shows you can view on your visit so you wouldn't want to spend all of it searching the database. Write down the catalog numbers and titles of the programs you wish to see, which will make finding them easy once you arrive. Contact the museum for more details.

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